Eat.Breathe.Smile,Nurturing The Yogi Within – Nipa Asharam

I completed my one-year yoga anniversary few days ago! I am a Health & Life Coach and a yoga practitioner who has certainly transformed from being a complete novice in yoga to a happy yogi! I am not sure if I will do a yoga certification course in the near future but for now I am happy to have discovered the yogi within.  It has helped me move effortlessly into a lifestyle that is holistic, natural and simple.

However, it wasn’t love at first sight! At first I did not find yoga very interesting. In fact I   found it slow, at times boring and wondered if it will ever help me achieve my goals. Yes, I had goals! Weight-loss, migraine, stress! Just so you know I  tried about 5 yoga teachers over a period of time- clearly it didn’t last and now I will tell you why ☺

Mind Over Matter

I wasn’t just a victim of the classic ‘fat girl’ story but also the ‘fat girl in my head’ story! While I lost weight soon enough, the image of the fat girl in my head did somewhat daunt me for a long time. My journey into being a Holistic Health, Life and Results Coach started somewhere in 2012 when I realized I need to take charge of my head. I had to ask the fat girl residing in my head to leave! Though professionally my career was booming and I enjoyed running the show as the Vice-President of one of the key media houses, I realised that personally I wasn’t in a happy place.

No matter what I did, I could not stop my mind from thinking of the stuck thoughts. As a result …

I continued to obsess about looking skinny and followed extreme diet plans and workouts even if they were self-damaging. Guess what else I invited? An 18 hour migraine situation, leaky gut and insomnia!

I started believing skinny is beautiful and the slightest comment on my weight was enough to turn my world upside down.

To add to this, by-issues cropped up such as low self-worth, lack of confidence, peace, sleep and so forth.

I knew I had to take action. I had to tame the monkey mind. I had to unlearn everything and discover my happy place. And so I set out on a mission to transform my life.

Back To The Roots

I started with meditation as recommended by a dear friend who knew details of my pattern, my mind map and my fat girl in the head image. I must have watched over 300 videos on meditation, practiced daily day and night before I started to understand the root of the issue. I slowly started to see its effects. I was beginning to feel more calm… not wanting to constantly prove myself, letting go a bit step by step and so my logical mind told me – “Hey, something feels different here ☺”

Transformation Kicks In..

Initially, I had tried several yoga classes including Iyengar yoga and failed to understand as to how a slow yoga practice and a a no-sweat workout will help in weight loss and toning. I was joining yoga for wrong reasons ☺ I was regular at the gym…sweating it out, weight training, toning up! But soon I started to want something more, something more holistic. I had already begun to experience few changes in my nutrition and my routine – my dependency on painkillers for my migraine started to reduce. I was questioning the unquestioned through meditation practice. My fundamental thought process was changing and some of my oldest friends were just stunned with my changes. The biggest change I saw when I got on this journey is ‘love for self’.

When Yoga Finds You

By 2016 I had certified as a Health and Life Coach and wanted to work with people and institutions to drive them forward…on the path to success and happiness. This is when I knew I was ready for the real yoga and when you are truly ready the right teacher, right practice just comes along ☺ I practice Iyengar yoga with the fabulous Shirley Batiwala. Some beautiful things I learned in the last one year while practicing with her

When you get rid of your physical fears, your psychological fears also disappear. For example, overcoming the fear of inverted poses helped me immensely emotionally and helped bring clarity.

Balance is key and anything extreme will throw you off balance. Just as how flexibility and strength are equally important in asana practice. Even in my daily life, while I was making changes I ensured balance was always at the core of it.

Mind can be your biggest ally if you make friends with it. I became more present by slowly training my mind to be in the moment, to drop unnecessary thought process.

Use your body’s strength to tone and be your ideal form. I see my body as a temple – it has the strength to heal, cure and realign if I treat it with utmost care.

Everything Is Exactly As It Should Be

As a Holistic Health Coach I would like to make a few recommendations:

Holistic Nutrition isn’t just what you eat but also what you think and feel so be sure to practice daily cleansing of thoughts and feelings that are toxic.

Night routine is as important as morning routine. How you sleep, what is the last thing you do before going to bed has a huge impact on how your day pans out.

Just being aware of your breath as you go through your day is also meditation. So meditation isn’t really rocket science.

Food is your medicine. It has its own energy that can do wonders for you. All you need to do is get deep into forming a relationship with it.

Last but not least – yoga is a way of life. It is a mind-body-soul connection that I am so thankful to have found. It is nutrition itself.

As a late starter, I feel it is never too late to start yoga.. It will serve you exactly what you need in life. Start with simple things at home you already know. Try suryanamaskars if that is what you are comfortable with. Be at your own pace and let it slowly be a part of you. It is life changing and probably the best gift you will give to yourself. Always remember everything is happening exactly how it should be so let’s Eat. Breathe. Smile ☺

 

Nipa Asharam

Instagram & Facebook @eatbreathesmile

Also Read: https://www.juruyoga.com/exploring-the-inner-landscape-through-yoga-story-of-a-yogi/